Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Guess Where I'm Going???

Well, faithful readers, I am going on vacation! I think we'll be gone for about 10 days, and I have a kitty/house sitter. :)

So we're off to have loads of fun, hours of travelling, and oodles of memories! Lancaster and Sight and Sound, here we come!!! Smithsonian, we're on our way! Opryland, not too much longer! Indiana, warm up for when we get there! We haven't been on a family vacation with all of us in probably 5 years or so, so this is going to be nice!

There is no problem, BUT....I'm a little concerned! Dan has procrastinated a bit with renting a vehicle(we need a van for the 5 of us), AND he hasn't reserved any rooms for us yet for Lancaster and Washington DC--I hope a two days notice is enough! (Yikes!)

I'm not overly picky, so as long as we have clean hotel/motel rooms and a dependable rental that has a little room for stretching, I'll be fine. But if it turns out to be a vacation like our overnight stay at Cook Forest in a genuine log cabin built many moons ago, well, let's just say Dan will never need another reminder to not procrastinate again-he'll even be on the ball 6 months in advance!

The one thing everyone knows about me is...I am a City Girl---CITY, with a capital C. I am not a country girl-never have been, never will be! It doesn't have to be a big city, just a city! No chickens in the yard and mudholes with pigs in them next to the barn, next to the shed, next to the house for me!!! Give me SIDEWALKS! Give me PAVED ROADS! I will NOT put on camoflauge and sit in a tree stand with my beloved all day while waiting for a big buck to walk by-no matter HOW much I love the man! Four wheelers and muddin' aren't for me either! And camping is ABSOLUTELY out of the question-FOREVER!!!!!

So anyway, a few years back, when Dan was working with his father's tree service, one of the customers owned a camping place out in Cook Forest(a pretty popular place in our area). He gave us a free two night stay on his camping grounds, and part of the deal was that our family would stay in a genuine log cabin from like, the late 1800's! Everything we need was included in the cabin, we were told-everything but the garlic press, the owner said!

We packed our stuff, and on a Wednesday night after church, we headed out on our hour long drive to Cook Forest! Through the windy roads with tall trees everywhere, we arrived at our destination as planned.

What wasn't planned is that the owner forgot to leave the key at the camp, like he said he would. And at 11 or 12 at night, the office obviously wasn't opened.

We headed further into the campgrounds, looking for the cabin that was described to Dan by the owner. We found it, and instead of driving back home since we had no key, Dan hoisted Amber thru a window after he removed the screen. Yep, we just broke in!

The first thing to greet us in the livingroom, once all of us were inside, was a bat. Can you FEEL how this City Girl was feeling???

Once the bat was out, my heart began to calm down. But I learned something new that night. Everything included except the garlic press does NOT translate as it sounds. Since true City girls don't go camping, and even my hubby who grew up camping didn't know, towels and soap are not included in "everything".

The girls got their own rooom to share, and Kota was smaller, and he claimed a sleeping spot next to his daddy. I got the other bed across the room.

When we finally fell asleep in this VERY different environment than what I considered comfortable, I was awakened in the wee hours of the morning with LOUD scratching noises. I spoke loudly to Dan...."Dan....something is in here!" I do believe he got out of bed and turned on the light(I, of course, don't totally remember because this is one memory I would like to forget!), but what we actually heard was scratching coming from the ceiling, and not actually from inside the room.

I wanted to go sleep in the car, but I was too afraid to get out of my bed. I had the heebie jeebies really bad. I do believe Dakota slept through it all. After all, he got to sleep sheltered by his protective father! I, on the other hand, got to sleep by myself, hoping that nothing would climb in bed with me!

The next day, a woman knocked on our door, and asked if there was a hat left in the cabin. You see, she and her family had spent the night in the cabin the night before, and they changed cabins because of the raccoon in the roof.

Ohhhh.....okay! It wasn't an elephant in the ceiling after all!

To finish this long story, we decided against staying the second night.

You can take the girl out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the girl!

Hopefully I can post while I'm gone, but if not, think of me, and please PRAY for my husband, that he is able to find decent rooms for us! Otherwise, I may have some shocking news for you real soon-like, I'm home 8 days early with the kiddos, and Dan is still walking around Washington DC somewhere, learning his lesson about procrastination.